Laura Robson has withdrawn from Wimbledon and the French Open to have wrist surgery in America. A light-hearted entry on her Facebook page masked the potential seriousness of the injury, which has troubled her since last summer and will now disrupt a large part of her 2014 season.

"I wanted to inform my lovely supporters that I have decided to have minor wrist surgery at the Mayo clinic with one of the best wrist doctors in the world, Dr Richard Berger," Britain's No1 women's player said.

Berger is the surgeon who recently operated on the wrist injury that has forced the Argentinian Juan Martín del Potro to withdraw from the Tour for an unspecified time.

Robson's Facebook announcement. Guardian

"Dr Berger is very confident that I will be able to return to the tennis court pain free before even have time to miss me :)," Robson said, "although sadly, I will have to miss the French Open and Wimbledon."

She was scheduled to play in Morocco and Madrid in the coming month but decided she could no longer play to her potential while her left wrist was affecting both her booming serve and her powerful ground strokes.

Robson's Federation Cup captain, Judy Murray, cautioned: "I'm not sure when she's going to be back. You have to be careful with wrist injuries. She has not played since the Australian Open so she will be anxious to get back playing, but you can't rush that kind of injury. Andy went through a wrist injury some years ago and psychologically it's a difficult one because everything in tennis goes through your wrist."

Robson made great strides in 2013, reaching the fourth round at Wimbledon for the first time, after parting with her coach Zeljko Krakan in May, to become the first British woman since Jo Durie in 1987 to be ranked in the top 30. However, Robson began to feel discomfort in her wrist most obviously at the US Open, where she lost to Li Na in the third round.

Robson split with Miles Maclagan, Murray's former coach, after just four months and gave the impression she was still searching for her best tennis. She arrived in Australia clearly underdone and, a week before the Australian Open, retired during her first-round match against Yanina Wcikmayer in Hobart International.

Missing the French Open should not unduly harm her progress – she went out in the first round to former world No1 Caroline Wozniacki last year – but she was desperate to do well at Wimbledon, where her booming forehand has terrorised the best players in the world and where she first came to prominence as a 14-year-old by winning the junior girls tournament.